It all fits. It all works. Strategically, financially, architecturally in building a roster, the Dolphins have begun free agency in a way that had you nodding along with every move - even if losing Mike Wallace for nothing had to make Minnesota fans nod harder.

Still, how often in the last 15 years have you understood the big plan of the Dolphins? This, in short, was a good few days. Let's go through the moves starting with the most recent:

1. Mike Wallace and a seventh-round pick was traded to Minnesota for a fifth-round pick. I thought they had to keep Wallace. How do you replace 10 touchdowns? Should a team with so many issues open another one at No. 1 receiver? If this trade was done by itself, it would have been a that's-so-Dolphins move. As it is, it remains a legitimate question of how they replace 10 touchdowns. But you have to couple this trade with ...

2. Dannell Ellerbe and a third-round pick traded to New Orleans for receiver Kenny Stills. If you assemble these two trades together, it makes better sense. First, Stills is younger (23 in April), cheaper ($585,000 this year, $675,000 next year) and nearly as fast (4.38 in the 40 at the NFL combine compared to Wallace's 4.33) version of Wallace. That's the hope, anyhow. Stills doesn't have Wallace's portfolio, but he did have 95 catches, nine touchdowns and a 16.2-yard average in his two seasons (admittedly with Drew Brees and a pass-happy offense).

Secondly, these trades get two expensive players off the books. Trading Ellerbe saves $5.65 million off the current cap. The Wallace trade saved $5.5 million. So a team that started free agency with the big buy of Ndamukong Suh saves more than $11 million off the cap with these two deals.

The Miami Dolphins' roster is getting a much-needed makeover as the team made several moves in free agency and the NFL Draft.

Finally, there's the Joe Philbin Phactor in this. He did not want to deal with Wallace again, according to sources. You can say Philbin is an issue in this, and I won't disagree. His players in the past two years have had more embarrassing incidences (Bullygate, Wallace's finale, even Jared Odrick's spat with Philbin on the sideline ...) than you see at well-run teams.

Still, it's obvious on the to-do list was to get rid of Wallace. Anyone who didn't hear the non-committal answers Mike Tannenbaum and Dennis Hickey have given the last several weeks wasn't listening. So this is the bottom line on this move: Since Philbin made it clear he wanted Wallace gone, the front office did a good job of making something understandable out of these deals. Unlike when the Dolphins made other moves (trading Vontae Davis in August, dumping Brandon Marshall for little) they fortified the roster for the missing player.

The hope was to hit something bigger than the dumping of Wallace onto Minnesota. The Dolphins did ask the price for Adrian Peterson. They had hopes of hitting that home run. But Minnesota either wasn't parting with him or was asking for high draft picks or just decided (rightly) the Dolphins would trade Wallace for far less. Minnesota has to love what it's done in getting Wallace to pair with Peterson. Teddy Bridgewater's work just got a bit easier.

There are two questions lingering in this:

A. Why didn't the Dolphins just release Wallace? Sure, they wouldn't have got the fifth-round pick of the Vikings (or lost their own seventh rounder). But they could have got $6.9 million in post-June 1 cap relief. The answer, it seems, is they'd rather have $5.6 million now rather than $6.9 million and their fifth-round pick on June 1.

B. Why did New Orleans dump Stills? That's a head-scratcher for now. And Stills will have to come close to performing like Wallace. We'll see if that happens. But as it is the Dolphins came out of this with a healthier financial standing and with a player who looks like a good replacement part for the receiving corps.

3. Jordan Cameron was signed for two years, $15 million. The Dolphins and Cameron can say his three concussions over the past two seasons are no concern. The contract says otherwise. It's not really as advertised. It has $5 million guaranteed. It then pays Cameron $2.5 million for the next season on a play-for-pay basis - meaning he collects $156,250 for each game he plays. In other words, if he's injured, he doesn't collect. So it's really a one-year, injury-conscious deal with an option to pick up the second year for $7.5 million. So there's little risk by the Dolphins and both sides win if Cameron is the player he was when healthy. At 6-5, he's the big target this offense lacks. He also has good speed (4.59 in the 40 at the combine to Charles Clay's 4.74). His 17.2-yards-per catch average last year led all tight ends and he scored seven touchdowns in 2013.

Of course, we have to wait and see how much the Dolphins really are counting on Jordan by what happens with Clay. The Dolphins, Buffalo and Clay seem to be playing a game of financial chicken right now. If the Dolphins get Clay back, they have potentially three tight ends with Dion Sims to give Bill Lazor some toys to play with.

4. Signing cornerback Brice McCain for two years, $5.5 million (with $3 million guaranteed). This means Jimmy Wilson won't be returning. McCain is signed to play nickel back and help on special teams. McCain won't give Jamar Taylor competition as a starting cornerback, but he's played six years and so obviously doesn't come with on-the-job learning. At 28, he's still in his prime, too.

5. Ndamukong Suh. The best defensive tackle in the game in his prime. The biggest move of free agency. Enough said.

Put it all together and it was a good few days for the Dolphins. There's work ahead. But you see a team with a plan right now and effectively going about implementing it.